Year of the Spark: March 20th
by Sparky Army
Summary: Your beautiful just the way you are. The Year of the Spark continues!


_We, the Sparky Army, decree 2008 to be the Year of the Spark. We pledge to post a new sparky story or chapter of a sparky story every day from January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2008. Though the Powers That Be have removed Elizabeth Weir from the regular cast of Stargate Atlantis, we feel that she remains an integral part of the show, and that the relationship between her and John Sheppard is too obvious to be ignored. We hope that you and anyone might happen to read these works, agree. _

_And if that isn't official enough for you, we don't know what is. Seriously, guys, we're just trying to have some fun--and show TPTB that Sparky is the way to go. So sit back and enjoy the 366 stories coming your way!_

Note from the author (Chicky): This hasn't been betaed, so please be kind. :) 

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**Beach Day**

by Chicky (Beach Chick)

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Elizabeth dug her toes in the sand and waited for the water that soon splashed up against her legs. The water cooled her off instantly. John noticed the smile that played on the edge of her lips, and her whole appearance seemed to come to life after month of looking pale and tired. Her hair hug loose to her shoulders, and her face was slightly flushed. A beach day had certainly been a good idea. When his team had checked out the Mainland on their last visit, John had suggested that they come back and take advantage of warm climate and cool ocean water. It wasn't long before he had convinced half of the expedition to come. They'd been ferrying passengers all day back and forth from Atlantis to the Mainland, and John had found Elizabeth knee deep in ocean water when he'd finally arrived. 

He approached her from the side and was stunned by the smile she sent his way when she noticed him. "How long have you been standing there?" She asked raising an eyebrow playfully in his direction. 

He took her sentence as an invitation for himself to join her, and he came closer to stand at her side. 

"Long enough to see how the sun is having an effect on you." 

He was very surprised to see her eyebrow shoot up another inch as she studied him. 

"A positive or negative effect?" 

"Positive," he said. "You were looking a little pale for a while back on Atlantis." 

"It was probably that cold. I can gladly say that I'm feeling much better now." 

Their eyes left each other and traveled back out to the ocean watching small waves start to form. All they could hear was the sound of the ocean and seagull looking birds call back and forth to one another overhead. 

"Where is everyone?" John asked finally noticing how alone they were. 

"They're farther down the beach. It's kind of hard to see anything from here. Do you see that yellow sun hat bobbing up and down over there?" Elizabeth pointed. 

"Yes," John said squinting. 

"That's Rodney's hat." 

"Oh really?" John said, and Elizabeth stifled a giggle at his expression. 

"He couldn't chance getting sunburned so he plastered himself with sunscreen and brought a huge yellow hat along with him." 

John patted the bag at his side. "I might just have to take a picture of him later…you know for recreational purposes." Elizabeth laughed again. "Hold on a second. What were you doing out here by yourself?" 

"It's much easier to enjoy the beach when you don't have twenty children darting past you every second," she said referring to the Athosian children who had joined them down at the beach. 

John shrugged. "I hope I'm not infringing on your time alone, because I could always-" 

"John, I'd much rather have your company," she admitted. "Besides, if you weren't here, I couldn't do this…" her voice trailed off as another wave came crashing against their legs. She took her hand and threw a handful of ocean water at him. He jumped back, but it was too late. The water splashed onto his shirt and face. He used his dry hand to wipe away the excess water, and he started back up the hill. 

Her laugher stopped immediately. "John?" She asking hoping that she hadn't offended him. 

When he was back on dry sand, he dropped his bag and turned around to face her. 

A devilish look gleamed in his eyes, and Elizabeth took a step back. 

"I'm going to make you pay for that," he said running toward her. 

She took a moment to step out of the water, and she took off down the beach. "If you can catch me," she taunted him. 

They ran down the beach as fast as the thick sand would let them. John was right behind her, and Elizabeth didn't dare to look back not wanting to slow down. As they came into view of the other expedition member, people stopped what they were doing to stare at them. It wasn't every day that they saw their military commander chasing after the expedition leader. It was very unusual behavior indeed. They continued down the beach until they were both out of sight. John finally caught up with Elizabeth as she was heading toward the water. He grabbed her hand and pulled her down with him. She gave a little yelp as they hit the foamy water. Once they were on the ground, John's hands started moving all over her tickling her in every place he could think of. Elizabeth started laughing and tried to get way from him. His arms in closed tighter around her, and she continued to laugh until she was out of breath. 

"I'm sorry..." She said between laughs. 

"For?" He asked as his hands continued their attack. 

"For throwing water at you."

He let her go and rolled onto his side. She stayed on her back for a moment looking up at the sky. I huge grin was planted on her face, and she held a hand up to her heart to steady its beating. She made eye contact with him and his breath caught in his throat. Her hair was matted down with wet sand and water, and her appearance was less than dignified, but he had never seen her look so beautiful. 

"What?" She asked noticing the intense expression on his face. 

"I…I just…you look beautiful," he whispered. 

"Yeah, I'm sure," she scoffed thinking that he was probably joking and tried to straighten up her appearance. 

He stopped her efforts by brushing a stray strand of hair away from her face. "Your beautiful just the way you are." 

She blushed and adverted her eyes away from him. Sensing the silence that was about to descend upon them, he stood up and reached a hand out to her. She took his hand and stood up. 

"I think you lost a shoe back there," he said looking down at her feet. Sure enough one flip-flop was missing off of her left foot. 

"I guess your just going to have to help me find it," she said. "You are the one who did start chasing me down the beach." 

"Are you saying this is my fault?" 

"Yes."

"Okay, fine. I'll help you find your shoe." 

She smiled a thank you at him, and they started back the way they came. 

The End


End file.
